Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer. He held the undisputed world championship in both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions, earning him the nickname “The Real Deal”. He is the only four-time world heavyweight champion, having won the WBA, WBC, IBF and lineal titles in 1990; the WBA, IBF and lineal titles again in 1993; and WBA and IBF titles in 1996; and the WBA title for a fourth time in 2000.
As an amateur, Holyfield represented the United States at the 1984 Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the light heavyweight division. He turned professional at the age of 21, moving up to cruiserweight in 1985 and won his first world championship the following year, when he defeated Dwight Muhammad Qawi for the WBA title. Holyfield then went on to defeat Ricky Parkey and Carlos de León to win the WBC, IBF and lineal titles, thus becoming the undisputed cruiserweight champion. He moved up to heavyweight in 1988, later knocking out Buster Douglas in 1990 to claim the undisputed WBA, WBC, IBF, The Ring magazine and lineal heavyweight titles.
He successfully defended the heavyweight crown three times, scoring victories over former champions George Foreman and Larry Holmes, before suffering his first professional loss to Riddick Bowe in 1992. Holyfield regained the crown in a rematch one year later, beating Bowe by majority decision for the WBA and IBF titles (Bowe having relinquished the WBC title beforehand). Holyfield later lost the titles to Michael Moorer in 1994 by majority decision.
Holyfield was forced to retire in 1994, only to return a year later. In 1996 he went on to defeat Mike Tyson by eleventh-round technical knockout to reclaim the WBA title, in what was named by The Ring as the Fight of the Year and Upset of the Year. This made Holyfield the first boxer since Muhammad Ali to win the world heavyweight title three times. Seven months later, Holyfield won the 1997 rematch against Tyson, when the latter was disqualified in round three for biting off part of Holyfield’s ear. During this reign as champion, he also avenged his loss to Michael Moorer, when he stopped him in eight rounds to reclaim the IBF title.
In 1999 he faced Lennox Lewis in a unification bout for the undisputed WBA, WBC, IBF and lineal titles, which ended in a controversial split draw. Holyfield was defeated in a rematch eight months later. The following year, he won a unanimous decision over John Ruiz for the vacant WBA title, becoming the first boxer in history to win a version of the heavyweight title four times. Holyfield lost a rematch against Ruiz seven months later and faced him for the third time in a draw.
Holyfield retired in 2014, and is ranked number 77 on The Ring’s list of 100 greatest punchers of all time. BoxingScene also ranked him the greatest cruiserweight of all time.
Early life
Evander Holyfield was born on October 19, 1962, in the mill town of Atmore, Alabama. The youngest of nine children, Holyfield was much younger than his other siblings and was born from a different father. Holyfield’s family later moved to Atlanta where he was raised in the crime-ridden Bowen Homes Housing Projects. He began boxing at age 7 and won the Boys Club boxing tournament. At 13, he qualified to compete in his first Junior Olympics. By age 15, Holyfield became the Southeastern Regional Champion, winning this tournament and the Best Boxer Award. By 1984 he had a record of 160 wins and 14 losses, with 76 by knockout.
Holyfield describes himself as a physical “late-bloomer”: upon graduating from high school he was only 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) tall and weighed only 147 pounds (67 kg). By age 21, he had grown to 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) and weighed 178 pounds (81 kg). He grew an additional 2 1⁄2 inches (6.4 cm) in his early twenties, finally reaching his adult height of 6 ft 2 1⁄2 in (1.89 m).
When he was 20 years old, Holyfield represented the U.S. in the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela, where he won a silver medal after losing to Cuban world champion Pablo Romero. The following year, he was the National Golden Gloves Champion, and won a bronze medal in the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California after a controversial disqualification in the second round of the semi-final against New Zealand’s Kevin Barry.
Present
After the Nielsen fight, Holyfield attempted to land a shot at a world Heavyweight title (all major belts were held by Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, at that time). However, after more than a year of trying to land this fight, Yahoo News reported his intention to retire in 2012, with Holyfield stating, “The game’s been good to me and I hope I’ve been good to the game. … I’m 50 years old (on Friday) and I’ve pretty much did everything that I wanted to do in boxing.” Later that same month, however, Holyfield seemed to change his mind, saying that he still considers himself a “serious contender.” Unable to secure a title shot, his career went into limbo for several months. However, In June 2014, after not fighting in over three years, Holyfield announced his final retirement. He is currently a boxing adviser to heavyweight prospect Zhang Zhilei.
Allegations of steroid and HGH use
On February 28, 2007, Holyfield was anonymously linked to Applied Pharmacy Services, a pharmacy in Alabama that was under investigation for supplying athletes with illegal steroids and human growth hormone (HGH). He denied ever using performance enhancers.
Holyfield’s name does not appear in the law enforcement documents reviewed. However, a patient by the name of “Evan Fields” caught investigators’ attention. “Fields” shares the same birth date as Holyfield, October 19, 1962. The listed address for “Fields” was 794 Evander, Fairfield, Ga. 30213. Holyfield has a very similar address. When the phone number that, according to the documents, was associated with the “Fields” prescription, was dialed, Holyfield answered.
On March 10, 2007 Holyfield made a public announcement that he would be pursuing his own investigation into the steroid claims in order to clear his name.
Holyfield was again linked to HGH in September 2007, when his name came up following a raid of Signature Pharmacy in Orlando, Florida. Signature Pharmacy was under investigation for illegally supplying several professional athletes with steroids and HGH.
Life outside the ring
Holyfield is the younger brother of actor and dancer, Bernard Holyfield, and currently lives and trains in Fayette County, Georgia. He is separated from his third wife Candi, with whom he has two children. Holyfield has eleven children with six different women. His son, Elijah Holyfield recently committed to play football at the University of Georgia.
By 1992, Holyfield was already a household name, endorsing multiple products on television, such as Coca Cola and Diet Coke. He also had a video game released for the Sega Genesis and the Sega Game Gear: Evander Holyfield’s Real Deal Boxing. After his conversion, he started professing his Christianity everywhere, reminding the public before and after his fights that he is a born-again Christian.
In 1996 Holyfield was given the opportunity to carry the Olympic torch when it was on its way to his hometown of Atlanta for that year’s Olympics. October 4 of this year he was married to Dr. Janice Itson, with whom he had one child.
He founded Real Deal Records which signed the briefly successful group Exhale.
On September 22, 2007 Holyfield released the Real Deal Grill cooking appliance via TV infomercials. The Real Deal Grill is manufactured by Cirtran Corp.
Holyfield’s popularity has led to numerous television appearances for the boxer. His first television show appearance was the Christmas special of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1990, playing himself. In 2005, Holyfield came in fifth place on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars with his partner Edyta Sliwinska. He also made an appearance on the original BBC Strictly Come Dancing “Champion of Champions” showdown, which featured the final four teams from the 2005 edition of the British series, plus two celebrities from spinoff versions, paired with British professional dancers, one featuring Holyfield paired with Karen Hardy, and Rachel Hunter paired with Brendan Cole. Holyfield also had minor roles in three movies during the 1990s, Summer of Sam, Necessary Roughness, and Blood Salvage (which he also produced). He made a guest appearance on Nickelodeon’s Nickelodeon GUTS during its third season in 1994. He appeared once in an episode of Phineas and Ferb. In the episode, he is an animated character but the producers wanted to make the most of Holyfield’s ear, so his animated character was only given half an ear.
On August 13, 2007, Holyfield was confirmed to participate in a boxing match at World Wrestling Entertainment’s Saturday Night’s Main Event against Matt Hardy. He replaced Montel Vontavious Porter, who had to pull out after being legitimately diagnosed with a heart condition that was not part of a storyline.
In late 2007 and early 2008, Holyfield was among a number of celebrities to be doing television ads for the restaurant chain Zaxby’s.
On January 3, 2014, Holyfield became the 12th housemate to enter the 13th series of Celebrity Big Brother (UK). On January 6, 2014, he was reprimanded by the show after saying in a conversation with another housemate that gayness is abnormal and can be fixed. On January 10, 2014, he became the first housemate to be evicted.
On May 2016, Holyfield entered the Argentine dancing reality show Bailando 2016.
Financial difficulties
In June 2008 a legal notice was placed by Washington Mutual Bank stating that Holyfield’s $10 million, 54,000-square-foot (5,000 m2), 109 room, 17 bathroom suburban Atlanta estate would be auctioned off on July 1, 2008 due to foreclosure, shortly before that bank’s insolvency. Adding to his financial problems, Toi Irvin, mother of his 10-year-old son, filed suit for non-payment of two months child support (he pays $3,000 per month for this child). A Utah landscaping firm also has gone to court seeking $550,000 in unpaid debt for services.
In 2012 The Independent described Holyfield as “flat broke and bankrupt” despite having earned £350 million (US$513 million) over his boxing career.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evander_Holyfield
Evander Holyfield (sinh ngày 19 tháng 10 năm 1962) là một võ sĩ quyền anh chuyên nghiệp người Mỹ. Ông là cựu Vô địch thế giới Undisputed trong cả hai hạng Cruiserweight và hạng nặng, nổi tiếng với biệt danh “The Real Deal.” Sau khi giành huy chương đồng trong hạng Light Heavyweight tại Thế vận hội mùa hè năm 1984, ông ra mắt như là một vận động viên chuyên nghiệp ở tuổi 21.
Holyfield chuyển lên hạng Cruiserweight vào năm 1985 và giành danh hiệu đầu tiên của mình năm sau, khi anh đánh bại Dwight Muhammad Qawi để chiếm đai WBA Cruiserweight. Sau đó anh đánh bại Ricky Parkey và Carlos De Leon để giành danh hiệu của Lineal, IBF và WBC, trở thành nhà vô địch Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion. Holyfield chuyển đến hạng nặng vào năm 1988, đánh bại Buster Douglas Ring, giành danh hiệu Lineal, WBC, WBA và IBF trong năm 1990.
Evander Holyfield nắm giữ chiến thắng đáng chú ý khác vượt các đối thủ như: George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Riddick Bowe, Ray Mercer, Mike Tyson (x2), Michael Moorer, John Ruiz, Michael Dokes và Hasim Rahman. Holyfield là người duy nhất 4 lần đạt danh hiệu Vô dịch Hạng nặng Thế giới (World Heavyweight Champion), giành danh hiệu WBA, WBC và IBF năm 1990, danh hiệu WBA và IBF năm 1993 và danh hiệu WBA vào năm 1996 và 2000.
Holyfield trong trận tái đấu với Mike Tyson năm 1997, trong đó hành động Tyson cắn tai Holyfield đã trở thành một trong những sự kiện tai tiếng nhất của lịch sử quyền anh nhà nghề.
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Evander Holyfield từng kiếm được khối tài sản khổng lồ lên tới 250 triệu USD nhờ sự nghiệp lẫy lừng, nhưng giờ thì anh trắng túi.
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